Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

my rating: 4/5 stars

SYNOPSIS: Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she’ll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters’ laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything - including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

My Review: It's been a while since I've read a good werewolf book, or really since I've read a werewolf book, period! Nightshade was such an enticing read! It was thrilling, sexy, And unputdownable. What I loved is that it had the perfect mix of everything: good characters, a steamy ( well done) love triangle and a well thought out underlying story that builds up to the second book. I have almost not complaints! Almost...

Alright, I'm just going to get this out of the way here....so....Shay and Calla's relationship annoyed me at some parts. THERE, I said it. Shay fans, don't hate me! It's just, he was always putting her into dangerous situations and asking her to do stuff with him, that if Calla got caught she would DIE. And he's all like "Nahh, you're not going to get caught! It's all good!" And I was sitting there like, dude, you're being really stupid now and I don't like it. If you really cared about the girl, you wouldn't want to put her in so much danger! And then there was the whole insta-love thing, which, some will argue that their relationship progressed enough through the whole story to where it wasn't really insta-love, but I beg to differ. Ever since they met each other it was all, "I really want to kiss you and stuff, but I can't." and to be honest, I don't know why Calla really liked Shay in the first place. I mean, he's a nice guy and all, but there was just something about him that really bugged me. I think it was the stupidity thing I was talking about earlier. Calla kept referring to him as brave, but in my book there is a fine line between braveness and stupidity, and Shay definitely leans more towards stupidity. Well, he seemed pretty book smart, but definitely not street smart. Real talk, who goes up to a mothafreaking pack of wolves and asks to sit down with them, when youre a human, and ALSO, who is stupid enough to dance and flirt with Calla (multiple times) right in front of Ren, the guy who can rip your face off with his pinky finger, and would very much so enjoy doing it!? Dumb people, that's who...

Speaking of Ren, I really liked him! Yes, he was a bit possessive. Yes, he lost his temper some times, but there is nothing sweeter than a bad boy who really shows his feelings about someone! He had a couple of really cute moments in this book where I wanted to just jump in the book and hug the boy :) I also like the fact that he had a backbone to him, yet he wasnt an overbearing leader. I'm totally in love with Ren! I swear to god, I must have some bad boy complex because I always go for them!

Wow, my "one little complaint" turned into kinda a huge rant. Whoopsies. Anyway, the rest of the story was VERY enjoyable for me! Ms. Cremer had so much chemistry between each and every character, and the plot was so addictive. Thank goodness I just ordered Wolfsbane becuase I need the second book NOW!